Paul Luvera Journal

I am not hesitant to acknowledge I am an strong supporter of presidential candidate John Edwards. So, the recent controversy involving two people associated with his campaign is bothersome. The ruckus involves Melissa McEwan and Amanda Marcotte who have well read personal blogs and who were hired by the Edwards staff as bloggers in support of his campaign. After being associated with his campaign Catholic and Christian right members protested because Ms Marcotte wrote in December that the Catholic church…

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Count U.S. Attorney John McKay of Seattle among the victims of the Bush administration purge of U.S. attorneys around the country. (See Bush Politics and U.S. Attorney Carol Lam posted 1/26/07) In typical conspiratorial fashion the Bush administration has once again fired a U.S. Attorney without cause and without explanation. In a scene like Germany’s 1934 massacre "night of the long knives" the Bush group has been firing U.S. attorneys around the country, many of whom were involved in investigations…

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I’ve previously reported about presidential hopeful Senator John McCain’s (R-AZ) lack of political character. (See: "General George Casey Becomes Senator McCain’s Scapegoat" 2/4/07) I first became disillusioned with the Senator when he made a one hundred and eighty degree turn to embrace George Bush and his polices after a long an bitter political feud with Bush and his administration. He made the sudden U turn for the wrong reason – in order to try to gain political support for himself….

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Talk about a predictable political tactic. Senator John McCain’s (R-AZ) attack on General George Casey & the other U.S.military leaders in Iraq at the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing is classic political ducking and dodging on the part of Senator McCain. In August of 2004 during a prime time speech on the opening night of the Republican Convention, McCain strongly endorsed Mr. Bush’s Iraq policies. In spite of the failed Bush war policies, as a pro Iraq war hawk, the…

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America has had Vice Presidents who have been notable for their conduct in office. Take Vice President Aaron Burr who killed Secretary of Treasury Alexander Hamilton in a duel in 1804. Then there is Richard Johnson, Vice President under Van Buren, who brought his slave and mistress with him to Washington to act as his hostess. It was Spiro Agnew, Vice President to Richard Nixon, who was sent to prison for income tax violations and took bribes in the White…

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I have complained previously about the people Mr. Bush appointments to executive positions in regulatory agencies because they were named in order to undermine the function of the agency. (Mr. Bush’s Appointment of Julie MacDonald 12/29) Now it appears Mr. Bush has found a new way of keeping regulatory agencies from doing their intended job. He has just issued a new executive order which gives him far greater power over government agencies. Mr. Bush’s order says each agency must have…

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United States Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has long time connections to President Bush. It dates back to Mr. Bush, as Governor of Texas naming him as his general counsel while Gonzales was a partner in the Houston firm of Vinson and Elkins during the time the firm represented Enron. Later he served as Texas Secretary of State before being appointed to the Texas Supreme Court by Mr. Bush. After Mr. Bush was elected President, Gonzales was appointed to serve as…

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May 1, 2003: President George W. Bush – USS Abraham Lincoln Mission Accomplished speech: "Major combat operations in Iraq have ended. In the Battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed." July 2, 2003: "My answer is bring ’em on." —President George W. Bush, challenging militants attacking U.S. forces in Iraq, December 20, 2005: "My fellow citizens: Not only can we win the war in Iraq – we are winning the war in Iraq." January 11, 2006:…

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On December 20th, President Bush signed a Congressional bill dealing with postal reform, but then issued a "signing statement" in which he claimed the right of government to open anyone’s private mail without a warrant or judicial permission. A statement by a U.S. President about a bill being signed into law is not new. The first president to issue a statement about a law he was signing was James Monroe. A statement by the President about a new law has…

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I’ve previously reported here (12/6/06) about the appointments of the Bush administration. They have consistently demonstrated an objective of appointing people who are unfit to head regulatory agencies and positions designed to protect the public from harm and which instead favor big business and industry interests. This failure to put the public first, before money interests, has occurred again. Public Citizen has expressed it’s concern about the White House plan to nominate Susan Dudley as administrator of the Office of…

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